One Year
by Fuzzelball
Summary: Tony receives shocking news: She's incurably ill. One year later, she dies - and Steve is left behind. (Translation of 'Ein Jahr...')
1. The Beginning of the End

_"And do you, Steven Grant Rogers, take Antonia Stark to your lawful wedded wife? Will you love and cherish her in good times as in bad times until death do you part, so answer with 'yes, I do'._

_"Yes, I do."_

_"So I declare you to husband and wife."_

_I didn't wait for the priest to agree and kissed her then and there, knowing it would be one of the last kisses we would ever share._

**_Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End_**

I would have never thought that it would end like this. That it could end like this. Every day, you hear of tragic deaths, of accidents and of the grieving relatives. Friends, parents, children, wives… husbands.

You hear it, you feel with them, but at the same time, you think 'that can't happen to me'. But then it does. And you stand there, regretting the things that should have been, could have been, but now never would be.

I'll never forget the day our lives took a drastic turn. For the bad.

The day Tony broke up with me and I didn't even know why…

_"It's over Steve," she said over the phone._

_"W-what, Tony, why? What's wrong?"_

_"Just deal with it." Was the last thing she said to me that day. I didn't know what I had done wrong. She had just hung up the phone. I took the rest of the day and the next week off. We had been together for six years. Why in the world would she break up with me so suddenly?_

_I found out about the reason for her behaviour about five weeks later…_

_Pepper, what are you doing here?" Pepper Potts was standing in front of my door and the look in her eyes didn't bode well. But what did she want? Didn't she have to be busy with running Stark Industries?_

_"I have to talk to you. Now." She watched me insistently._

_"Fine. Come in."_

_She stepped into my apartment went to the living room. She didn't take a seat, only looked out of the window. It worried me seeing her like this._

_"About what did you want to talk?"_

_She finally looked at me. "It's about Tony-"_

_"What does she want from me? Why isn't she here if it's so very important?!", I shouted without meaning to, but she stayed completely calm._

_"Why did she break up with you?"_

_I turned away from her. "She didn't tell me. The only thing she did tell me was to 'dealt with it'." What did Pepper want from me?_

_"She didn't tell you anything…" Not a question. "You don't know anything about what's going." But a statement._

_"No shit, Pepper." I closed my eyes and dropped my head._

_"Steve, you have to come with me to the Tower!"_

_"Why, does Tony already have someone better than me and wants to rub it in my face?"_

_"Steve, she doesn't have much time left."_

_I lifted my head again, but didn't turn around. "Not much time left for what?" She stayed silent. "Pepper, answer me!"_

_She took a deep breath. "Tony is ill. She has cancer. It's in an incurable stage now."_

_I could feel my heart sink lower and lower. A blow below the beltline would have been nothing. "What…?"_

_Pepper tried to keep herself together, but failed miserably. "The doctors can't help her anymore. They give her a year, at the very most. That's why she broke up with you."_

_I sat down on the couch. Tony would die and she hadn't told me anything about it… Tony would die…_

_"Steve, please." Pepper was suddenly next to me and I fell apart, clung to her and started letting out everything I kept inside all those weeks prior. I wasn't ashamed of crying in front of Pepper. She did the same and after all, we had the worst reason to do so. "I don't ask you to make up with her again, but please, come with me. She eats and sleeps only every other day and already looks she's barely alive. And she misses you. It wasn't like she didn't love you anymore."_

_"I have to see her", I mumbled. "I have to see her now."_

_Pepper got up and pulled me up as well- I would let Tony go so easily. We went downstairs and I immediately recognized Happy in the limousine. His eyes were glazed when he watched me in the rear-view. "Hey, Steve."_

_"Happy…"_

_The way to Stark Tower was unbearably long. It seemed like an eternity until we finally stood in front of the massive glass doors. Pepper walked in front of us and I desperately tried to calm down, to collect myself, but that was easier said than done before I knew it, we were on Tony's private floor and I was so very nervous. My heart was beating that hard, I feared it would break through my ribcage as soon as I would see Tony._

_Pepper brought me to the living room and there she was. She must've heard Pepper's high heels on the marble floor, but she didn't turn around._

_"Tony", Pepper called. No reaction. "Tony, turn around." Nothing. She stood so still that I thought we would stand before an android of hers. "Tony, Steve is here." She abruptly raised her head and seemed to look out of the window. "Tony, turn around."_

_She shook her head, but turned towards us. I saw what Pepper had meant. Her face was slightly sunk in, her cheekbones were more prominent. _

_Overall, she seemed to have lost some weight and had bags under her eyes. She didn't look like the Tony I knew._

_"What is he doing here?" Tony stared at us, shocked. "Pepper, what the fuck is he doing here?!"_

_"You know that yourself." Pepper looked back just as steely. "I cannot keep watching you giving yourself up and keep away from everybody else. I can understand why you're doing this, but what I can't get my head around is why you left Steve out of all of this!"_

_"Because he shouldn't see how I miserably kick the bucket! Do you really think this is fun for me?!"_

_She turned her back to us and it tore my heart to shreds when I heard her cry. Without thinking of anything, I strode over to her and brought my arms around her. I buried my face in her hair and couldn't keep my tears from falling anymore._

_I cried for joy, because I had her back, because I could hold her again. I cried for pain, because I knew that she would, very soon, be gone for ever._

That was the beginning of the end…


	2. What I had wanted to do

**_Chapter 2: What I had wanted to do…_**

I wouldn't leave her side. She had strictly refused to be taken care of by anybody, but she should have known me better, than that I would let her turn me down on this.

_"Steve, I mean it."_

_"So do I. I won't leave you here," I replied. "I'll stay here or you come over to me."_

_She smiled. "Resistance is futile, or something along those lines." She sighed._

_"Yes."_

_"Strange…" she said and turned to the window. "In the past weeks, those in which you hadn't been here, I've been pretty scared."_

_I froze. I didn't know why._

_"But now… I don't know… now I'm not, not anymore." She turned around again. "Are you really sure that you want to stay here?"_

_"Yes." I didn't have to hesitate._

_"You don't have to."_

_"I know."_

_"It's not going to be pretty."_

_"I know."_

_"I can't stop you from staying here, can I?"_

_"No."_

_She smiled again and just shook her head. "I should have known…"_

_I relaxed again and walked over to her. "You should've." She had always been much smaller than me, but now, she seemed to be even tinier and fragile, even though she would have proved this statement wrong if I had ever said that aloud…_

_"Now that I think about it," she looked up at me, "I've wanted to do some things before…"_

_"What?" I was confused. Tony was more than just sophisticated. She'd been in cities and countries whose names I would never be able to pronounce. "What do you mean?"_

_"Well, I've already been Lord knows where, but you've never been with me." She stepped back. I've always wanted to travel around the world with you."_

_"With me?"_

_"With who else? There's so much I want to show you, so many places you should've seen…"_

_"We have been on vacation together before…"_

_"Steve, L.A. barely counts. What I mean is London, Paris, Rome, Moscow. Such cities. Los Angeles was a business trip, more or less."_

_"I still liked it." I knew what she was talking about. I also had plans that ha d turned to dust now. "Let's do it."_

_"What?"_

_"Let's do it. I'll quit my job, I'm gonna find another one. We're going to travel around the world."_


	3. Travelling

**_Chapter 3: … Travelling…_**

A few days later, I had quit my job and moved out of my apartment. Tony and I had considered discussed various destinations. So many that I, in fact, had lost track of it. Tony, on the other hand, seemed to have everything under control.

It took us four weeks until we had finally agreed on six destinations; we would be on every continent. About what would come after that, I didn't want to think.

After Pepper's observations, Tony had taken a drastic turn in these four weeks. She had become full of life again and was almost happy to start working again, instead of being depressed and secluded from everyone. We often hung out in her workshop. She built stuff and I drew.

Always the same motive.

I wanted to forget it, but sometimes, I couldn't.

And unfortunately, Tony noticed that more often than I would have liked…

_She always grew quiet before she assured me she could understand it, would I take everything back._

_"Steve, seriously-"_

_"No!"_

_"Steve, you coming here and talking to me was more than I could ask from you."_

_I turned to her and took her face in my palms. "I will stay right here," I growled._

_She looked at me with wide eyes before she smiled._

_"There was never a way back for me. Since the day Pepper stood in front of my door and told me that you wouldn't have much time left, I have never thought about leaving you. I love you. And I will cherish every second I have with you. I will neither look back, nor imagine the future. I have never broken a promise and I won't anytime soon."_

_She had tears in her eyes when she got out of my grip, but instead of running, she clung to me while she cried. I buried my face in her hair and shed my own tears._

_"You know, I think we should start packing."_

_Her shoulders shook as she giggled._


End file.
